


Keeping Secrets

by FollowtheMoon



Category: NCIS, xXx (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gibbs has another daughter, Lots of triggers probably., OC is keeping secrets, Past Rape/Non-con, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Time is screwey, gory murders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 03:11:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15787755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowtheMoon/pseuds/FollowtheMoon
Summary: Fact: Samantha Havard is an NCIS agent.Fact: Samantha has just been added to Gibbs' team.Fact: The triple x program has been ordered to work long term with Gibbs' team.Fact: There's a lot of things about Samantha that her team has yet to find out. Like she has a daughter. Or that she's Gibbs' daughter. Or that the reason Xander is certain he's met her is because they had a one night stand five years ago.Fact: Samantha is keeping secrets.How will they be uncovered?





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Havard. Get to work okay?" McGee asked with apparent concern. I gave a baleful glare as I plodded to my desk, deep auburn hair dripping on the floor as I went.

"Do we even want to know?" Ziva questioned.

"Fire hydrant was busted a little ways up the street. Flooded the road, and the bus splashed me when it stopped." I explained in a huff. "Face full of water." I smacked one hand against the other to imitate the collision. "I look like a drowned rat."

"At least you're mostly dry now." Ziva bit back a giggle. I frowned at her.

"I hate public transit." I grumbled as I worked to twist my hair into a coil to minimize dripping.

"Then catch a ride with someone, Havard." Gibbs retorted as he blew into the bullpen. "Upstairs, all of you. We've got orders."

"Hey boss." I decided to be a bit of a smart ass. "Since I'm on the way to work, Would you mind giving me a ride to work from now on?" He eyed my joking smile critically.

"Be ready by seven." Was the only reply and I stared in a bit of shock and confusion at nothing in particular.  _That... Backfired._

* * *

I tried to hide my stare as I listened to the briefing.

"-Gibbs, your team will be working in tandem with a team from Gibbons' own project; the triple X program." Director Vance informed. "This mission will be a long play, but I've been informed that his team is more than willing to help with any other cases on the way." I winced at the thought of my dads issues with working with others and glanced at the man in question. Gibbs, for his part, didn't even flinch at the order.

Across the room from my team, there stood ten people, including Gibbons, himself. One of whom, my eyes found themselves drifting to frequently. The bronzed skin, a patchwork of artfully done ink, the cleanly shaved head, the defined muscles of his physique, the  _I-don't-give-a-fuck_ attitude. A blast from my past. His eyes flicked to mine curiously and I quickly looked toward the director again.

Today was NOT my day.

"-There won't be a problem with that, will there, Gibbs?" Lance not so discreetly challenged.

"No." Gibbs answered succinctly, not taking the bait. "Are we done here?"

"Yes" Lance replied. "I suggest you get busy. You've got a case."

As our team filed out, Lance called Gibbs back. We exchanged glances before rushing back downstairs to our desks.To our chagrin, the triple X team followed.

"Oh, god, we're screwed." Dinozzo complained.

"And why is that?" One of the women of the group asked in her distinctively Indian accent.

"Gibbs doesn't play nice with others. Not even if they're in the same agency, let alone if they're  _outside_ the agency." I explained, rubbing my temples to try and relieve the growing headache that was blooming behind my eyes. I quickly checked to make sure my firearms were strapped where they needed to be. "I just hope Dinozzo doesn't piss him off."

"Hey!" Tony squawked in indignation.

"Are none of you ready yet?" Gibbs inquired. "We got a body. Let's go." And he swept out of the room.

I quickly grabbed a packet of shelled sunflower seeds from the snack drawer of my desk and stuffed it in my pocket.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" A familiar deep voice spoke from behind me, making me jump. I whirled around with wide eyes.

"Um... What makes you say that, I asked as I grabbed my crime scene gear.

"You just look.... Familiar." He tilted his head as his voice dropped a note or two and he gave me a full once over.

"Have I ever brought you in?" I asked by way of deflecting. The others chuckled, and he joined in with his lazy smile.

"Do you need us to come along?" Another woman asked. Her long brown hair and spectacles really made her seem innocent and adorable.

"Do you know how to process a crime scene?" I asked.

"Um... No. But no time like the present to learn, right?" She answered nervously. I eyed the nine people there.

"I'll see if we can't arrange something." McGee offered with a smile. "My name is-"

"McGee! We don't have the time! Gibbs is waiting." Ziva called from the elevator, keeping it open. I was already rushing to the stairs.

"You're not using the elevator?" Ziva asked.

"Too many people." I muttered before I entered the stairwell.

"Hey! Hold up!" Xander Cage called behind me. I quickly hopped the railing half way down the steps a few times until I hit ground floor. As I exited I heard him utter a quiet  _damn_ above me.

I spotted Gibbs ahead and jogged to catch up to him. "Boss, we got nine extras looking to come along. We're gonna need a few extra rides."

"Yeah. I figured." He replied, observing the lot with resignation.

"Since we're already talking about carpooling, can I come with you?" I asked, hopefully. He looked down at me in consternation.

"Don't like our guests, Havard?" He prodded, almost sounding indifferent to the answer.

"Just thinking if three of us have to drive with three of them in the car with each of us, it's going to be noisy. I'd rather not be one of those three drivers. I'll ride with Ducky and Palmer if necessary." I retorted. It looked like he was repressing a grin and he nodded toward the car he drove.

"Get in."

"Thank you." I gave a sigh of relief as I quickly sat myself in the passenger seat of his car.

The others joined Gibbs, and he handed out two different sets of car keys. One for the equipment van, one of the regular cars. I did the math again with a groan of frustration.

Xander, the cute brunette, and a woman with blueish green hair sauntered up to the car Gibbs was going to drive. As they each slid into their seats in the back, Xander thought he'd try to talk to me again. "You sure are fast, sweetheart. You sure I don't know you from somewhere?"

"If you did, you would think you'd remember." I gave a non-answer in reply.  Gibbs slid into the driver's seat and gave me a look, his eyes twinkling mischief. "You, sir, are not nice." I informed him. He chuckled as the car started.

* * *

 "Oh, God!" The brunette, Becky, squeaked as I pushed an evidence bag into her arms.

"Do NOT contaminate the crime scene." I told her sternly. "Puke in that if you have to." I quickly stalked up to our medical examiner, a muscle-y shadow right behind me. "Ducky, you need help getting his intestines down from the tree, since Palmer's out sick?" I asked.

"Yes, that would be lovely, Samantha. Thank you. The ladder is in the truck." He answered with a smile. I nodded and quickly made my way to the truck.

"You gonna ignore me forever?" Xander asked, far too close for my liking.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that." I managed to steady myself as my heart raced in double time. I started to slide the ladder out of the truck, only for it to be taken by the tattooed man behind me.

"Do what?" He asked in a teasing manner.

"Invade my personal space." I replied. "And I'm not ignoring you."  _Lies._ "I've got work to do that doesn't call for interacting with you." I took the ladder from his grip and carefully set it up under the tree with the victim's innards to work on carefully untangling them from the branches. Ziva had a special bag handy below while I carefully lowered foot after foot into the bag.

"How can you stand that?" Becky exclaimed, looking green in the face, though her puke bag was empty.

"I just try not to think about it." I answered. "Hold on! I think I see another body!" I called to my team. "We're gonna need a cherry picker or something." I leaned forward a bit to get a better look only to immediately throw myself back as the body fell from the tree. I pinwheeled, trying to catch my balance to no avail. I tipped too far back and fell, fully expecting a broken tailbone from the incident. That was until a pair of strong arms caught me in a princess hold.

I blinked rapidly as I stared at my savior, mouth slightly agape. I could feel my face flushing as my mind processed my predicament. I remembered those arms.  _Embracing me. Holding me together while taking me apart- get it together Sam!_

Light jade met coffee, and I was reminded how easy it was to get swept up in his charm.

"You falling for me, sweetheart?" He teased. I snorted in an unladylike fashion, the spell broken.

"Thank you for saving me the trip to the hospital, but could you set me down?" I tried to push my body away from his in a careful manner. He carefully set my feet on the ground and I gave a nod in thanks before turning to the others as I started climbing back up the ladder. "Never mind about the cherry picker!" I called to them.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?" He called up to me.

"Somebody still has to get the intestines out of the tree." I called down with indifference. "Ziva. The bag?"

"Right here." She answered below me. I finished sending down the ropey organ to frown as I looked up into the tree cautiously.

"Tree clear, Havard?" Gibbs called.

"Looks that way, boss." I answered before climbing back down.

"You okay?" He asked as I tugged off my intestine gooped gloves to trade out for fresh ones that I'd have to get out of the truck.

"Yeah, boss. I'm fine." I gave a reassuring smile. "I do have to eat something though. Starting to get shaky." He gestured toward the tape at the edge of the crime scene and I grinned. "Thanks boss."

I quickly made my way to the tape and watched the crime scene as I pulled the pack of sunflower seeds out of my pocket. I tossed a handful into my mouth as the Indian woman walked up to me with a disturbed look on her face.

"How can you eat after handling someones insides?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I'm hypoglycemic. I need to eat every now and again or I could put myself and my team in danger."

"It doesn't bother you?" She inquired.

"I've been an agent for a few years now. I've seen a lot of death. A few have been pretty gory. You get used to it after a while." I answered before shoving the rest of my sunflower seeds back in my pocket and turned back to the truck to grab more gloves. I offered her a pair. "You don't have to grab body parts, just make sure there's been pictures taken of any evidence before bagging and tagging."

"That sounds easy enough." She acquiesced.

"Havard!" I turned toward Dinozzo. "If you're done with your little pow-wow over there, we still have work to do!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." I waved him off. I eyed the woman at my side. "One day, I'm gonna shoot him." She laughed. "You can call me Sam."

"Serena." She replied with a grin.

"Well, Serena. Let's get to work, shall we?" I marched ahead with a grin on my face.


	2. Chapter 2

"Can I help you?" I stopped typing as I felt my space being invaded again.

"Just trying to figure out where I know you from." Xanders rumbling voice sounded almost next to my ear. I forced myself not to jump. He was a lot closer than I thought he was.

"Perhaps you two knew each other years ago?" Ziva offered. I shrugged.

"All I know is, if it were really important, he'd remember." I replied to her. I turned to stare at him pointedly. "And since you can't remember, it mustn't be important enough to warrant you getting in the way of my job. Now could you get out of my bubble?" He stared at me, curiosity shining in his eyes as he backed up. I got back to work one handed as I fished through my snack drawer for my homemade trail mix.

Some of the other men on his team were barely repressing snickers while McGee and Dinozzo snorted.

"Never really had a complaint before." Xander commented and a part of me froze in terror.  _There's no way he remembered-_ "Women usually ask me to get closer." I gave an inner sigh of relief.

"Good for you." I bit out. "But this is neither the time, nor the place for that sort of thing. And even if it were, you look like the one night stand type. I had my fill of those back in college." Xanders team gave a quiet 'oooh' at that. He stared at me intently.

"You always this crabby?" He asked.

My hand was shaking as I finally grabbed my bag of trail mix.

"She just needs to boost her blood sugar." Gibbs informed as I quickly picked out a few pieces of candied pineapple to chew on and felt the tremors leave my hand.

"What, is she diabetic or something?" Adele asked.

"Non-diabetic hypoglycemia actually." I answered. "I just-"

"Have to eat snacks throughout the day along with her meals..." Xander was eyeing my critically.

"You've heard of it?" I tried to play dumb.

"Knew somebody that had it once. Pretty rare condition." He answered. "Can't remember her name though."

"How'd you meet her?" I asked, fighting back the memory from about four and a half years ago.

_"Maybe if we pay somebody here to pop her cherry, she might actually loosen up." The leader of the group that brought me to the party snickered, followed by a round of titters from her clique. They obviously were unaware that I was close enough to hear them. I turned away in shame. I could feel myself shaking in embarrassment and from low blood sugar._

"At a party a few years back. Only reason it came up was cuz she hadn't had the chance to eat before the girls she thought were her friends dragged her out to the party." He answered, unaware that I was reliving that night as he spoke.

_I stumbled as my vision started to fade a bit around the edges. When did I eat last? I felt the loss of control of my body as I started to crash toward the ground. Strong arms caught me from becoming friendly with the cement floor, though they couldn't stop the shivers from racking my frame._

_"Hey sweetheart. Did somebody give you a drink?" A concerned deep voice asked asked by my ear. I whimpered in fear as I realized my position; I was weak, and with no protection. "Hey. You still with me? I'm gonna get an ambulance, okay?"_

_"No." I croaked out. I was turned to finally see concerned coffee brown eyes set in a handsome face._

_"No ambulance? You sure? You don't look like you're doing so good." My rescuer tried to reason._

_"Hy-hypogl-glycemic." I managed to stutter out._

_"What's that?" He asked as he carried me to an open seat._

_"R-really l-low blood sugar." I managed. He grabbed a can of sprite from a nearby ice bucket, opened it in front of me, then handed it to me._

_"You diabetic?" He asked._

_I chuckled shakily. "No, I'm one of the very few with non-diabetic hypoglycemia. Won't bother you with all the medical jargon, but it means My body can't break down food properly. I have to snack between meals." I felt the tremors lessen as I spoke. "I just didn't get a chance to eat before I got dragged here." He chuckled._

_"Why don't we go up to my room and order in then? I'm paying."_

"Let me guess." Ziva broke me from my reverie. "You slept with her."

"Now that you mention it..." Xander gave a cock-sure grin. Ziva and I both rolled our eyes.

"Our victims are Lieutenant Robert Williams-" I started.

"Are you kidding me?" Dinozzo blurted out. I glared at him as I finished my sentence.

"-and his father, George Williams. Neither are currently married, mom died when the lieutenant was a small child, father never remarried. Neither have any siblings on record."

"Neighbors have said the lieutenant has been seeing a blond woman. Don't have her name yet, but they said he had been really excited to introduce her to his dad. They were going to have a barbeque yesterday, but nobody saw him since then." McGee added in.

"Alright. Find out where they've been for the past few days. See if we can't find our mystery blond." Gibbs ordered. "Havard. Come with me."

I immediately stood from my chair and followed after my boss.

As the elevator doors shut, Gibbs hit the switch to stop the elevator and turned to me. "Is he bothering you?" He asked.

"Huh?" Of all the things I expected, that had not been it. "Oh! No. Well, yes, but it's not his fault." I shuffled my feet awkwardly.

"Not his fault?" He balked a bit.

"He knows me. He just doesn't realize that he knows me." I muttered, unable to meet his eyes.

"The woman at the party he was talking about. That was you, wasn't it." I winced.

"It's been years, and I hoped he wouldn't recognize me." I offered weakly. "I have no intention of a repeat of events, and I promise not to let it affect my performance."

"Okay." He relented, and turned the elevator back on.

"Okay?" I asked, only to have him give me a look. "Okay. Where are we headed?" I asked.

"Autopsy." He answered dryly.

"Would it be okay if I stayed to help Ducky with the bodies?" I asked. He eyed me with a bit of humor. "Xander annoys me a bit, not gonna lie. And since Palmer's out sick, I figured Ducky could use the extra hand." I wiped my hands on the leg of my pants nervously.

"Go grab lunch for yourself first, Havard. Can't have you collapsing on the job." He finally answered after a nerve wracking pause. I gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, boss. I'll just come to hear the findings so far first, so I know what to help with." I gave a shaky smile.

* * *

"What are you doing down here?" Becky asked. Ducky and I were both huddled over an empty autopsy table with our sandwiches. I looked over to her in the middle of one of Ducky's interesting anecdotes.

"Ducky is without his assistant today, so I figured I'd step in." I answered with a shrug.

"You're eating." She pointed out in an almost accusing manner.

"Lunch break." I rebuffed through a mouthful of food. "I'm not battery powered."

"So, you're not hiding from Xander? Because it really seems like you are." She asked with a tilt of her head.

"I'm doing my job." I replied. "Nothing more."

"Okay, cool." She returned. "Then you won't mind if I tell him where you are."

"Go ahead." I answered with a smile. I waited until she was in the elevator before: "I'm gonna get those samples up to Abby now. I'll finish lunch when I get back."

"You _are_  trying to avoid him." Ducky murmured. Neither of our eyes had left the elevator yet.

"Ohhhhh yes." I admitted. "He doesn't know about personal space when it comes to women he has some form of interest in. It's a bit annoying."

"Samples are over there." He turned back to me.

"Thanks Ducky." I planted a kiss on his cheek before signing the chain of evidence and grabbing the tray of samples and heading toward the stairs, leaving the food half finished.

"Not taking the elevator?" He asked.

"I'm likely to get caught that way, Ducky." I answered.

He chuckled at my antics.

* * *

"Sam, I-" Xander cut himself off as he looked at the lone living occupant of the room. An elderly bespectacled man.

"You just missed her, I'm afraid." The man spoke with a British accent. "I sent her up to Abby with some samples to run through. I'm sure she'll be back shortly, if you wish to wait?" His offer hung in the air as the tattooed man thought through his options.

"Sure. Name's Xander Cage. My friends call me X." He finally introduced himself.

"Donald Mallard. Everyone calls me Ducky." Ducky answered in kind.

The door behind Xander opened with a whoosh. "Abby is running those samples as we speak, so I am gonna-" The very woman Xander was after walked through the doors in a whirlwind of activity before halting at the sight of him. "Did Gibbs send you down here?" She asked.

* * *

 "No. Just looking for you." He replied. I repressed my frustration into a frown.

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask as I sat back down to finish my sandwich.

"Why are you hiding from me?" He shot back. I paused in my chewing as I noticed his hands on the table at either side of me. His arms were bracketing me in. 

"I'm doing my job." I rebuffed. "The world doesn't revolve around you." I wiped my hands after the last bite. I turned to address the doctor. "Which beds you want these guys in, Ducky?"

"Eight and nine should be clear." He replied. "Thank you for the assistance."

"No problem." I gave him a smile. I turned and frowned at the tattooed man still caging me in. "Can you back up?"

He moved away from me slowly, bringing his arms down just as slowly. He watched me intently as I worked to get the bodies into their temporary homes with Ducky.

"Thank you, Samantha. You're always such a big help." Ducky complimented.

"Awww. Thanks Ducky. I love helping you when I can." I gave him a hug. "I should probably get up to Abby and meet Gibbs there. You know how he knows exactly when she has something." I turned to Xander with a frown. "You. Come with me." I crooked my finger at him. "We don't need you wondering around unsupervised."

He gave a wry grin before following me into the elevator.

* * *

 

"Abby, please tell me you've got something." I called. The tall woman with a love for the dark and spooky waltzed into view. The shocked look on Xander's face was priceless, though I pretended not to notice it.

"Sam! You showed up before Gibbs today!" Abby exclaimed with a grin. Her expression blanked, however, when she noticed the man beside me. "Oh. Hello." She greeted hesitantly.

"Hey there." He gave a friendly grin.

"Abby, this is Xander Cage. His team will be working with us for the foreseeable future. Xander, meet Abby Sciuto, our forensic scientist and genius." I made the introductions.

"Nice to meet you." Xander's voice sent shivers down my spine as his voice got just a tad lower. I remembered very vividly what his voice could do to me.

Abby must have seen my dilemma, because she immediately took him into the lab to 'introduce' him to her machines. I got stuck where I was standing until Gibbs walked up from behind me.

"You okay, Havard?" I could tell he was worried it was some weird episode or something.

"Yeah." I croaked. "Just... getting my bearings is all." I could feel my face heating up. It was then, that his attention was focused on the distinctly male voice in the lab before he turned back to me.

"I don't wanna know." Then he swept into the lab. "What have you got for me today, Abbs?"


	3. Chapter 3

I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. "You really have no concept of personal space, do you?"

"Just trying to read what you got." He tried to placate. I wasn't having it.

"You can read it when it gets put up on the big screen like everyone else. You don't have to breathe down my neck." He frowned at me as he straightened up. My team looked up from their own screens at us and shared loaded glances. Most of his team had gone somewhere else, except for one of the men named Xiang, Serena, and Becky.

"Just trying to keep in the loop, sweetheart. That's how a team works." He tried to reason. This caused a volley of quiet chuckles from Ziva, Tony, and Tim. Gibbs grinned to himself. I gave a humorless laugh.

"That's where you made your first two mistakes." I turned to him. The remainders of his team watched us in fascination. "There is your team, and there is my team. There is no 'our' team. We work together on this mission, you assist us on cases as we need it. That doesn't make us a team. I don't trust you. My  _team_ doesn't trust you. You don't trust us, either, so don't even try to pretend you do. We. Are not. A team. So back off until we ask for your help." My voice became sharper as I spoke, and his eyes became more serious. I watched as a muscle in his jaw twitch as I kept my face set in a glare. He seemed to be collecting his wits to keep from yelling, and I was deeply impressed, though I kept myself from showing it.

"Okay." He said slowly. "What's the second mistake?"

 

The rest of my team, including Gibbs, all spoke up. "You called her sweetheart."

Xander, Xiang, Serena, and Becky all blinked in surprise at how in sync everyone was.

"I'm not your sweetheart, mister Cage. I'm an NCIS special agent." I gave a sickly saccharine smile. "Keep that in mind." I turned back to my screen to finish combing through data.

I stared at my screen in confusion as my brain tried to make sense of the information I had been given. "Boss? You're not gonna believe this."

"What is it?" He inquired. I transferred the data to the big screen.

"McGee was able to get the records from his credit cards and I've been going through surveillance camera feeds that corresponded with them. We narrowed it down to restaurants where he bought enough for two dishes. We found the mysterious blond. Erin Sjerven. The address on her ID hasn't been updated, so I thought I'd check for any relatives.... Look who shows up as her dad." I clicked, and there was the face of George Williams.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Tony commented.

"Any idea on where she is?" Gibbs asked.

"Working on getting an APB out now boss." Tony had moved back to his desk to get on the phone.

"Good." Gibbs started to leave, probably to get coffee.

"Uh... Boss?" Tony called. Gibbs stopped to look back at him. "She's at Bethesda hospital."

"Okay. Load up." He gestured to the rest of us.

"It's never this easy." I uttered as I moved to follow.

"You're her, aren't you?" Xander's voice halted me. The others paused as well. "You're the woman from the party."

"So you remember me now, of all times?" I grit out. "We don't have time for this." I kept moving toward the elevator. Ziva, Becky, Serena, and Tony were already in the elevator, but I squeezed in and pushed the close door button just as Xander made it to the door. As we rode down in the elevator, there was an awkward silence. Of course, leave it to Tony to break the tension.

"So.... Cage, huh-" He started.

"Don't go there." I cut him off. "It was years ago, and I don't wanna talk about it." The doors opened on the ground floor and I took off at a fast clip. Apparently, I'm not the only one who knows how to use the stairs.

There, stood by Gibbs, was Xander Cage.  _Fuck my life._

* * *

 "Sam. We got a problem." Tony spoke over the phone as we were approaching the hospital.

"Go." I replied quickly.

"They had to evacuate the hospital. Apparently, our dear friend Erin has a bomb strapped to her chest."

"You're joking." I groaned. Xander, Serena, Becky, and Gibbs all looked at me with some degree of curiosity. I addressed the other occupants in the car. "There's a bomb. Miss crazy has a bomb." I started rubbing my temples. "Is she willing to make a deal?" I asked as I turned the phone speakers up.

"She's willing to talk to somebody." He amended.

"Well, this oughta be fun." I grumbled. We pulled into the lot. I got out of the car, following my boss up to the person in charge.

"Where is she?" Gibbs questioned.

"Ground floor, second right, first left." The guy replied.

"Sam, can we please talk about-" Xander started.

"I'm about to be talking a woman down from a proverbial ledge. I don't have time to deal with whatever problems you have with me." I cut him off.

"You're going in there?" He asked incredulously.

"It's my job." I answered simply.

"You could die!" Becky exclaimed.

"I know." I admitted. "But that's the risk."

"Be careful." Serena touched my arm in concern.

"Usually am." I gave her a reassuring smile. I turned to my team with a grim expression as McGee held out my vest to me. I looked at Ziva and pulled her to the side. "Ziva. If something happens to me, I need you to call this number." I passed her a piece of paper. "A woman named Eesha will answer the phone. Tell her I'm gonna need her to watch Lizzy for a bit longer."

"Lizzy?" She inquired.

"My daughter." Her eyes widened. "Please, don't say anything to anyone about it." She nodded mutely. "Thank you. Hopefully it won't be needed."

"Good luck." She almost whispered. I gave a wave back.

* * *

  **BOOM!**

* * *

  _"Get me a line AB negative!"_

_"Samantha, you're going to be okay."_

_._

_._

_._

_"Her kidneys are failing!"_

_._

_._

_._

_._

_"Sam. You gotta hold on. We're all gonna see if we can donate for you. Don't quit on me. I still haven't talked to you yet."_

_._

_._

_._

* * *

 "Leroy Gibbs?" One of the doctors hesitantly approached the leader of the worried group of field agents.

"Yeah?" He encouraged.

The doctor pulled him to the side to speak to him. "Her kidneys made a full recovery. I don't know how it's possible. For all intents and purposes, her kidneys should have failed. Your daughter should make a full recovery when she wakes up."

"She's one of my agents doc." Gibbs tried to correct him.

"I'm aware. That's why I pulled you aside." The doctor gave a conspiratorial smile. "I'm sure you don't want it advertised that you're related." Gibbs stared at him blankly.

"How did  _you_ find out?" He finally asked.

"When you offered to donate a kidney. We had to test your compatibility to your daughter to be sure her body wouldn't reject it. That's when we noticed your DNA is a paternal match to hers." The doctor explained. Something in Gibbs gut dropped.

"Thank you." He finally said.

"You're very welcome." The doctor gave a brief smile.

He turned back to his team and Xander. "She's gonna be okay." They all sighed in relief simultaneously.

"Thank God." Tony breathed.

"You all seem really concerned about her. More than your usual concern for teammates." Serena walked back into the waiting room with two cups of coffee as she spoke.

"Sam's like family to us. A sister to Abby, McGeek and me." Tony shrugged.

"And me." Ziva piped in. "Practically a daughter to Gibbs."

Gibbs fought back the urge to twitch at the comment."

"Didn't think suits really had feelings" Xander muttered.

"Hey, buddy."Tony jumped to his feet with an angry tone of voice. "We're still human beings. If that's how you feel about us 'suits', what the hell are you even doing here?"

"I gotta talk to Sam about-"

"You have no right to call her that." Ziva hissed.

"I got as close as you can get to someone! I think I have a right to call her by her name!" Xander shouted as he stood in her face.

"Then call me Samantha." A voice piped up. Everyone turned to find the the dark red curtain of hair was lower to the ground than usual. "Stop yelling. This is a hospital."

* * *

"Aren't you supposed to be bed ridden?" McGee asked me.

"I'm in a wheel chair, Tim. What more do you want from me?" I gave him a grin. I turned back to Xander. "What is there to even say? It was a one night stand that happened years ago."

"I didn't want you to leave that morning." He said. "When I said it could only be temporary, I meant casual dating. I didn't wanna get your hopes up if we didn't hit it off. I really thought I could fall for you."

I stared in complete and utter shock. He took a step forward. "I still think so."

A heavy pause settled over the whole waiting room.

"Well. That was dramatic." Dinozzo spoke up awkwardly.

"We've got a mission to do, and you couldn't have sat on that until it was over?" I dead-panned as he seemed to slump in rejection. "Now somebody better be bringing me Thai, because I will lose my mind if I have to eat the crap the hospital serves." I turned the wheelchair back toward my room.

"I guess it really didn't mean anything to her, after all." Xander murmured to himself.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Ziva offered gently. "You probably changed her more than you know.


End file.
